mam521

As a permanent resident, you will no longer have an I-94 record as it applies to visitors as a way for CBP to monitor how much time you're spending in the US, when you leave and that you actually leave. As a PR, you're supposed to be here! The endorsed MRIV serves as your temporary greencard until the physical card arrives in the mail. If there is any question about your legal status, the DMV can request a SAVE verification which will state you're legally in the US. Texas DPS does this annoyingly all of the time it seems. Edit to add here, you're not on a "visa", you are a permanent resident. The sticker in your passport says visa, but you're a PR. The visa verbiage is directed toward people who are on limited term visas like L1's or F1's.

Sign a Lease Agreement with your parents.

Thanks! He said within a couple of months. He didn’t actually seem to know, just like he didn’t seem to realize (or chose not to acknowledge) that Houston is pushing people through pretty quickly.

I understand that. Just like everything immi, everyone has their reasons for doing what they do. The unfortunate reality is the SSA is about as educated as a lot of HR personnel. Interestingly, there is guidance directly from USCIS with some instructions on how to fill out the I-9 with an extension letter. The info might be useful to others who’ve recently been issued those long extensions. https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-related-news/form-i-751-and-i-829-48-month-extension

TBH, I haven’t updated mine. Mine says with work authorization only, but my GC is work authorization. I will do it after my naturalization ceremony, which seems to be a semi common thing, whether it’s right or wrong, it just is. The SSA really are the lowest common denominator of government agencies.

Interview complete today. Recommended for oath ceremony. MyUSCIS is already updated to say “awaiting oath ceremony”.

If you are returning to Canada as a primary residence, CBSA is going to make you import the vehicle, pay taxes on it and register it with RIV. Once in Ontario, you’re going to have to go through the process to get it registered and insured. You will also have to get an Ontario DL. If you want to return to Florida as a primary resident, you will have to reimport the vehicle to the US and go through the whole process. You will have however many days to get it registered in FL and get your license switched. If you are returning to Canada as a primary residence and visiting the US more in a fashion like a snowbird would, I would look at that information. I suspect you can follow the drive it in the US for up to a year before needing to import it. With that in mind, you’ll have to check with your insurance issuer for how long they will cover your vehicle in the US.

Interview went fine! MyUSCIS account has already updated with “oath ceremony will be scheduled”. We got to the facility a bit early. A security officer asked if we had any firearms, knives, pepper spray, or other weapons. We did not. We were told to head in and went through quick airport style security. Inside, we stopped at the desk where they took my NOA for the interview. The agent wrote a number on it and handed me another print out number. The little tag was for Biometrics. The number written on the letter was the actual interview number. We went to sit down. It’s a pretty typical government building with airport style seating. We were barely there a minute before I got called to do my fingerprints and take a photo. Interestingly, the gentleman completing this had actually been to my home province! Anyway, that only took a minute. I sat back down with hubs and waited. There were lots of families, so I suspect there were a number of combo interviews happening with big smiles on people’s faces as they came back out. Others had lawyers with them. I waited about 20 minutes and was called to door 1. My interviewer met me and lead me down a hall of offices. He was a bit of an interesting man and apparently a former immigration attorney. Anyway, it was actually challenging to hear him because he had a mask and gloves on and there was a Perspex barrier between us. He asked for my green card, passport and driver’s license. He didn’t ask to see any of my other documentation even though I offered it. He told me not to worry about it. He knew my husband was a naturalized citizen, so clearly everything had been verified (we did front load the petition). He asked me the half a dozen civics questions, asked me to read a simple sentence and write “Thanksgiving is in November.” He asked why I wanted to become a U.S. citizen because I barely met the 3 year requirement. We had a discussion about the N-600 for the kids and then he checked a couple of boxes on a paper, handed it to me and said he was recommending me for my oath ceremony. He then escorted me back to the waiting area where I collected hubs and off we went. Next up: oath ceremony!

Health insurance, especially for an 11 week visit.

So sorry about your loss. Definitely not how you wanted to start your life in the US. As for shopping for insurance - find a good health insurance broker to do it for you. It's a challenging field to navigate, as you're aware, and it's not worth the incessant robocalls when you inquire somewhere. The ministries aren't technically health insurance. They are a cost sharing exercise where the members contribute or "gift" to a pool and expenses are paid through distribution of the fund. When you head for medical care, you have to declare you are self pay and pay out of pocket. You then submit to the Ministry. Each incident is reviewed and you are "refunded" a portion of the cost. Because it's not true insurance, they can deny 100% of a claim if they want to. This is why it's worth it to heed @SteveInBostonI130's suggestion at reviewing people's experiences with high dollar costs. Hubs broke his ankle a couple of years ago and insurance ended up being billed over $125,000. I can't imagine having to pay that out of pocket and wait for a decision from the fund to repay that cost.

The paras get mad but this is my whole life they are playing with! Until they have to go through the process and are the ones standing in front of the CO petitioning for their future, they have no vote. They are being paid to do a job. Do it well the first time and you won't have so many things to fix! Anyway, I'll jump off my soapbox now...

This is also why it's a person's responsibility to check EVERY box on an application. For my employment visa, the lawyers had the work address incorrect on the forms, despite me verifying it so they could courier the package to me. I fine tooth combed the forms upon receipt so I didn't show up to Secondary to receive egg on my face. I had hubs double check our DS-260's for our GC's and my N-400 before sending. We did find small errors and corrected them. So important to dot the "i"s and cross the "t's!

Hi there and welcome. Please fill out your timeline here: https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=445999 Did you attempt Direct Consular Filing (DCF)? If so, that's a bit different but I also wouldn't hold my breath because Canada is traditionally slow to begin with and it's pretty rare that DCF is allowed. If not DCF, here is a guide to the I-130 process. You'll file the I-130 which goes through USCIS and will take around 15mo for approval. After that is approved, your petition will be sent to NVC where the DS-260 will have to be filled out and approved before you'll be on the waiting list for an interview. Montreal is the only consulate that does spousal interviews in Canada.

Hello and welcome! The I-130 process is taking forever, so file...yesterday! If your wife is planning to move with the kids, take advantage of Canadian health care and make sure they have all of the required school vaccines. Hep B seems to be the new one that catches people out. And Chicken Pox because the numbers of doses are different. You can also take advantage of this by making sure your required CDC vaccines are up to date before your interview, despite it being a ways out. You'll have to fill out the rest of your timeline and update as you receive updates: https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=322951 This thread will become increasingly useful after your I-130 is approved and you move into the NVC stage. It started many moons ago from a private chat Canadian filers had and migrated to the main forum. If you get your timeline filled out, Hawk Riders can add you to the tracking spreadsheet. It's typically people who've already had their NVC DS-260 approved, but there are some people on the spreadsheet that are at the USCIS stage. There's also a FAQ that can be accessed as you prepare. Montreal Consulate isn't the easiest consulate to deal with. Immigration in general really tests your patience. If you can keep expectation to the minimal, you'll be happier in the long run. Good luck and happy filing!

Yes. There will be a receipt number - that's your case number. There should be another box beside it that says USCIS Online Account Number - use that to create a myUSCIS account and track the cases. You can track both cases through a single myUSCIS account.

You may not have been issued a NOA1 yet. It will come in the mail. Do you have Informed Delivery? You can create a myUSCIS account once you receive it and track the case online.

Is your daughter your daughter or your stepdaughter? I'm assuming the later since you've mentioned she's on an IR-2 and didn't mention a CRBA. Your wife can file for citizenship under the 3 year rule after she's had 2 years minus 90 days of continuous residency in the US. Depending on where you are in the US, citizenship processing has been going reasonably quickly. If the child is hers from a previous relationship, the child will receive citizenship through her mother since she's a minor. When your wife receives her citizenship, she can apply for a US passport for herself and daughter, then file for the N-600.

You don't technically need your SSN to begin work in the US, either. Check out the I-9 instructions.

Usually people get sent the DS-5535 questionnaire within 24 hours. I'd contact the Consulate. In the meantime, you're going to have to start digging through and find your travel history for the last 15 years. It's quite the undertaking. So sorry you got handed this. That thread listed above has a number of knowledgeable people who can provide advice.

Sounds like an improvement from when we went in Montreal. Our appointments were around 11:15am and we didn't get out of there until around 4pm. We did a LOT of waiting. I was so thankful I had Kid2's novel in my backpack because their iPad died and we didn't have a charge cord with us. There was another couple with a toddler who faced the same long waits. Mom was quite pregnant and the look on her face as she attempted to entertain said toddler said it all. All of us were completely over it! Good luck with the interview

If you do a titres test, the test result. If you have a vaccine record/card, take that, too and any receipts for new vaccines you got. If your family doctor has everything neatly packaged as a printout, take that. Basically, anything that shows you have the list of CDC required vaccines is acceptable. I had our old school vaccine cards from the health nurse that had hand scribbled dates and that was perfectly acceptable. My medical was in March when the flu vaccine was required, so I had the print out from the pharmacy saying I got it.

2012 - may or may not still have that passport. Being Canadian, Canadians don't have to go to the consulate to get a visa. They can take the appropriate paperwork, head to CBP PreClearance and be issued a stamp rather than a traditional visa as one would expect. The student status would have been reflected on the I-94.

The OP can call and request the I-130 be expedited. No guarantees though.

1. The link is here: 2. Medisys was bought out by TELUS health in 2018 and the clinic is not located at the corporate office. It's best to use official sources that list acceptable centers and their location. Montreal Consulate website: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Supplements/Supplements_by_Post/MTL-Montreal.html#med_exam_instructions . Montreal has one approved provider; there are only 5 across all of Canada, 3 being in Ontario. 3. You'd have to call the pharmacy and find out if they can do the test and how long the results will take. It's significantly cheaper and easier to do vaccines in advance of your medical appointment.

As long as you paid the fee, usually a couple of weeks. Can be months. It's not an issue because your endorsed I-551 will allow you to do everything you need to do. Sign up for Informed Delivery with USPS and you'll be able to see it probably before USCIS sends the tracking info. I didn't do my I-551 by air, but have done other visas. Head to the airport (early) and check into your flight like usual. Head to customs and tell them you have to activate your LPR. They will take your passport and boarding pass, pull you aside and take you to secondary where you'll deal with an officer who will pull your digital file, endorse your visa in your passport and tell you "Welcome to America". It sounds daunting, but it's no more daunting than the interview and you've already passed that!